Road construction seems to be around every corner — especially in the high traffic areas like the U.S. 31 Bypass. That stretch of highway in northern Berrien County is unfinished and just stops, becoming the road to nowhere.

Bill Szaminski of Niles asks a Good Question: “Why can't the Bypass get finished to I-196?”

WSBT's Kirk Mason looked into it.

In January of 2007 our news team broadcast an image of a snow covered road without tire tracks. That's because no traffic drives on it. That is still the case for the unfinished U.S. 31 Bypass.

Michigan has plans to extend the road another four miles, which will connect it with both I-94 and I-196. That plan was first sidetracked by environmental concerns and then Michigan's money problems.

The state placed the U.S. 31 Bypass extension on a deferred list, along with 30 other road projects.

Michigan's budget issues have the Department of Transportation focused on maintaining current roads rather than building new ones. For now, funding for the project has not yet been identified.

The Michigan Department of Transportation says the project would take two years to finish after 19 acres of mostly farmland is purchased.